Intro to Gender Studies

12/2/11 – FF #13 – The Final Frontier

We’ve come full circle. Let’s recognize that by creating a playlist about androgyny.  For the last FF, post the artist and title of a song that refers to or signifies androgyny to you.

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11/11/11 <Whoa> – FF #12 -

A closer look at hook-up culture: when men and women use the term “hook up,” do they mean the same thing?  Ask one guy and one gal for their definition of hook-up and post them for today.

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11/4/11 – FF #11 -

Focus on fairness and foxiness.

Today, add up the number of minutes you spend in beauty work and grooming in total (regardless of whether you are male or female). This does not narrowly mean simply the application of makeup or the brushing of hair.  Here are example activities to consider:

The time it takes to…

Shower (do you take multiple in a day? add them up),

Shave (do you do this multiple times in a day? add it up),

Wash your face,

Pick out your clothes,

Put on your makeup,

Tweeze your eyebrows (or whatever you tweeze),

Brush/do your hair (how many times a day do you do this?),

Check your makeup in the mirror (eg how much time do you spend on maintenance when you stop to wash your hands in the bathroom),

etc.

Post the number of minutes in total at the end of the day.

 

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10/28/11 – FF #10 -

Today, FF is for Female Friendship.

Ask a handful of friends: How are your friendships with women different than your friendships with men? What kinds of things do you do with your female friends that you don’t do with your male friends.

As you talk to your friends and when you post your response, make sure you note the differences in responses between males and females.

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10/21/11 – FF #9 -

What kinds of mediated images are we consuming?

If you are a female, provide:

• Your favorite TV show as a teenager
• Your favorite TV show currently
• Your favorite magazine

If you are a male, ask a female friend or relative of similar age for these.

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10/14/11 – FF #8 -

Triple F: Fem Fri Freebie. Enjoy the Friday off [but still think about gender ]. That is all.

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10/7/11 – FF #7 -

How do women represent themselves religiously? Let’s do a Facebook analysis.  Go to Facebook and look at the profiles of several female friends.  How do they indicate their religiosity?  Look not only at what they put for “religion,” but also pay attention to other parts of profiles that are related to religious outlook and lifestyle (e.g. in the bio section or perhaps in music, books, quotes).  Describe what you find.  Provide a few exemplary lines from the profiles (e.g. if you see several that say something like, “Woman of God” or maybe you find a particular scripture referenced regularly).

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9/30/11 – FF #6 -

Let’s do the numbers.  What is the gender composition of your discipline or chosen career field.  Choose one of these and look up the gender composition.  In your post, list the discipline or career field you plan to enter, the percentage of that discipline/field that is female, and the source for the stats you are reporting.

*If you aren’t sure whether your source is reputable, ask a librarian where to locate this information.  You can do this electronically at the library website through the librarian chat.  They’re very helpful!

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9/23/11 – FF #5 -

How does our culture continue to promote the nuclear family and the woman’s domestic work in it as the norm?  Find evidence of this in pop culture and post it.

Examples might be an ad for a product on TV or in a magazine (e.g. what types of family products feature women), a commentator from a news program discussing the family, a political figure talking about family values, etc.  Pick whatever you like and include the image if there is one.  And explain it.

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9/16/11 – FF #4 -

This week we look at the social construction of gender, which includes understanding that how we “do” gender changes across the life course.  Let’s do a daily shoot.  This FF, take a photo of a female doing gender at some phase of the life course other than college.  Include an explanation in a sentence or two of how she’s doing gender for that age/life stage. Additional rule: don’t replicate a daily shoot that someone else has already uploaded.   Go!

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9/9/11 – FF #3 -

This Fem Fri, let’s fashion something Freudian. In the style of the six-word memoir or six-word story, summarize Freud’s theory on gender development for females.  Take whatever artistic license you desire.

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9/2/11 – FF #2 -

We regularly engage in rituals* or rites of passage that affirm our social statuses or mark our transitions into them.  For example, Quinceanera is a rite of passage in Latin American culture that marks the transition from being a girl to being a woman. Take a picture today that illustrates a ritual that affirms a person’s status as a female.  Include one sentence that explains how/why.

Don’t forget to categorize it as “Feminist Friday” when you post!

*In sociology, the term ritual has a broader meaning than “formal ceremony.”  A ritual is a patterned action or interaction that occurs certain conditions. Although the term is often used to refer to religious behaviors (e.g. doing the sign of the cross when you enter a church), it is certainly applicable beyond that.  A morning routine like getting up on the left side of the bed, heading straight for the coffee pot, and sitting on the couch for 15 minutes, could also be understood as a ritual.

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8/26/11 – Fem Fri #1 -

In the eminent words of Mr. Kanye West, every super hero needs his (or her) theme music.  I think our class has super-hero character and ought also to have theme songs– a sound track if you will.  Since it’s FF, let’s start by creating a playlist of female anthems.

Your charge: Add a song to the playlist based on this theme.  Preferably, it would be one you hear on the radio on FF that strikes you as an appropriate track for inclusion.  Create a post that simply includes the name of the song and the artist.  If there are any key lyrics that you particularly compelled you to add it to our playlist, you might also indicate those. When you create the post, be sure to categorize it as “Feminist Friday.” Rock on.

Tentative Playlist Title: Man, I Feel Like a Woman.